Fire Consumes Red Rock Sanctuary

On Sunday, August 9th, the large fire burning north of Reno reached Red Rock Consecrated Sanctuary, causing major damage. Two buildings where three of our ministers resided were destroyed. The contents of a warehouse were also destroyed, as well as a vehicle. See the photos below for details.

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Below is a description of the event by Rev. Robert Roy, a resident of the Sanctuary, who witnessed the incoming fire along with Rev. Father Ted Staver.

The fire that started August 8th at Hallelujah Junction caught our attention because it was close by. The news seemed to bring this fire closer by the hour. It seemed that a decision had been made to allow this fire to burn out, but it did not, and seemed to gather speed with every report.

By Sunday, August 9th, the fire had arrived at our doorstep at Antelope Valley. There were fires coming over Fred’s Mountain, and we were engulfed in smoke. I drove to Ted’s place at the Chapter House around 5:40pm and directed Barbara to leave. We were in heavy smoke but no flames at that time.

I headed back to our parsonage and kept a watchful eye with binoculars. About 7 PM I had a strong premonition to go back to Ted’s place. Upon arrival there, I encountered Ted with a garden house at the ready. He shouted that I should grab a hose and prepare for any chance of fire reaching the Chapter House. But something guided me to run up the hill behind the Chapter House to get a better view of our situation.

Upon reaching the crest of the hill, I saw a wall of fire, 40 feet high and 100 feet wide come over the hill across Matterhorn Blvd on the north west side. It was traveling fast down the side of the mountain towards Matterhorn. Upon reaching Matterhorn Blvd, the fire leaped over the road to our side of the Sanctuary and landed with the force of an explosion. It started its climb towards me at the top of our mountain. I turned and ran downhill towards the Chapter House and Ted.

I shouted to Ted that it was time to leave. Ted ran into the Chapter House to gather personal items. I honked my truck horn to hurry him as the fire was racing downhill.

Ted got to his car and followed me as we headed towards the End Times Parsonage. At the bottom of the hill, we stopped and we got out of our vehicle and looked back at the Chapter House in flames.

I told Ted to head to the lower gate and wait for me there as I had to get Noriko and Joseph from our parsonage. I quickly gathered Noriko and Joseph into our truck as the flames were racing toward us.

It was a race against a wall of fire that was now headed towards our parsonage, propelled by a strong wind. We headed towards the lower gate at great speed.

At the lower gate we spoke with Bishop Savoy, who instructed us to come to the Rectory.

Our only way out of Antelope Valley was north towards Pyramid Lake, another difficult journey clouded by thick smoke. There were many fire trucks along Matterhorn Blvd.

As we left, but I did not see anyone engaging the fire. We left Ted’s car in Antelope Valley, and he joined us in our truck voyage to Reno because the dirt road to Pyramid Lake we knew would be difficult. It was a two hours journey to the Rectory.

The following day we returned to access the damage, but were stopped by sheriff deputies in Lemmon Valley and were told we could not return to our land, which was less than 5 minutes away. We then set about using a dirt road around the area to access our Sanctuary land.

After a difficult one hour drive over dirt roads, we reached the Sanctuary and were surprised that the End Times Parsonage was still standing without suffering any damage. An amazing miracle. To our dismay, the Chapter House and surrounding buildings, indoor gardens, and vehicles were completely destroyed.

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